Economic Scenario of Animation Industry
An article by Diyashi Sharma
Animation Industry is the next big thing happening in the film industry, Animated films over the years have escalated very fast making it one of the fastest growing sector in the entertainment industry.According to the reports from the KPMG India-FICCI Indian Media and Entertainment Industry Report 2017, the Indian animation and VFX industry grew at 16.4 per cent in 2016 to reach a size of INR 59.5 billion, driven majorly by a 31 per cent growth in VFX, with animation remaining steady at a growth rate of 9 percent.
From 2016, the growth of animation industry has started to rise and is eventually capturing the whole industry. The industry started to bloom and flourish with animations for local cartoons and thus growing big.
Over the years, companies with India-Origin has always been appreciated for their visual effects in several Hollywood films. Double Negative (DNEG), a Prime Focus group company, has won the Oscar four times for titles such as Blade Runner 2049, Interstellar, Ex Machina, and Inception. Also Thor: The Dark World, was outsourced to Mumbai’s Prana Studios Ltd and Bengaluru-based Mr. X contributed to 2018 Oscar winner The Shape of Water.
IB Minister told that animation, visual effects, gaming and comic are blooming sectors and Indians are providing back-end support to top filmmakers of the world. “It is time that these professionals started doing more of this for our own films so that the use of animation and graphics in Indian films grows manifold.” IB minister had said.
With growth of animation industry, the quality of work and content is definitely improving for the Indian industry, and people from around the world is taking inspiration from them.
As per the analysis of the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), the Indian animation and visual effects industry has a potential to capture 20 to 25 per cent of the global AVGC market. It currently has around 10 per cent of the global market share.
“It’s all because of the pandemic,” says Keitan Yadav, COO at Red Chillies VFX in a recent media statement.
“Before the pandemic, the animation, VFX, gaming and comics (AVGC) industry never thought of working from home but had to adapt itself to the changed circumstances. With this there will be a lot of flexibility for the studios to minimize their costs and maximize their output,” he avers.
Animation and VFX studios are witnessing a significant surge in content demand for domestic shows. The growth prospects by the fact that the animation segment alone grew by 10 per cent in 2020. It reached Rs 24.5 billion despite the steep losses incurred due to the halt of production in the initial phase of the pandemic.
Today, experts are sure about the future that lies in the virtual production set-up. Stuck in the projects, filmmakers and creative directors were rescued by advanced technologies that enabled them to set up their home offices.
India’s animation and VFX industry was valued at around INR 53 billion in 2020, with estimates of growth up to 129 billion rupees by 2023. This was a compound annual growth rate of around 35 percent for the industry in the measured time.
The latest trend is the rise of the captive centres of international studios in India. Foreign studios are more interested in either opening their own studios in India or investing in existing Indian companies. This is not only bringing in investments, but also adding to the creative and technological talent pool in India.
Diyashi Sharma, a post graduate with a degree in mass communication and journalism, working as an business development executive with an interest in writing and watching films.
